GF Coconut Banana Blueberry Pancakes

This past weekend I (Esther) decided to try out a new recipe for pancakes, and as you know since we are off gluten they would have to be gluten free:-) This recipe caught my eye the other day when I saw them on Joy the Bakers Blog, I knew that I would have to make them sometime very soon. The original recipe called for the batter to be cooked in a waffle iron. Though as you know with a family of 7 and only 1 waffle iron it was going to be to time consuming a task on a Sunday morning to accomplish! After thinking about it I thought that it could not hurt to try and see if they would work as pancakes, and sure enough they did and some amazing pancakes they they turned out to be! The recipe calls for coconut flour which is basically you guessed.... extremely finely ground coconut,do not try and blend up some of the dried coconut you have in your pantry as it will not work( Hannah and I have tried this before, it doesn't work:-). You will need to buy this flour at your local health food store.

Gluten Free Coconut Pancakes

1/3 cup sweetened or unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted

4 tablespoons melted coconut oil,

6 large eggs

1/4 cup honey

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup coconut flour

2 tablespoon mashed bananas

Toppings:

Sliced banana

Fresh Blueberries

Almond Butter

Maple syrup

Unsweetened coconut flakes

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 200 degrees F.

Place coconut on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 6 minutes. Keep an eye on the coconut, it browns and burns quickly.

Remove toasted coconut from the oven and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together coconut oil, eggs, agave nectar, vanilla extract, and mashed bananas. Whisk until well incorporated.

In a small bowl, whisk together the coconut flour, salt, and baking soda. Work the mixture with your fingers to ensure that the coconut flour doesn’t have any lumps in to.

Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Mixture will begin to thicken as you whisk. Add the toasted, shredded coconut and whisk to incorporate. Allow mixture to sit for 5 minutes while you plug in and preheat your griddle. Drop the batter by 1/4 cup fulls on hot griddle that has been greased with coconut oil. Bake about 2-3 min. on first side, flip and cook another minute or so, the 2nd side cooks faster so watch it closely! Put in oven to keep warm while you finish the rest of the batter. When ready to serve dab the top of each hotcake with a little almond butter, slice extra banana and sprinkle blueberries on top. Last of all drizzle with a little maple syrup. Enjoy this absolutely amazing pancakes!

How daring are you?

Lately Hannah and I have been experimenting with green smoothies. I have only gone a little wild once, that's when I decided to put in a rather large amount of swiss chard:-) I just thought that if a little was good why not add just a little more....right?!?! This morning I made us a very delicious concoction consisting of 11/2 bananas, 1cup strawberries, 4 kale leaves, 2 very small swiss chard leaves, and 2 cups almond milk, this does serve 2. Oh, and just for a side note, all our greens are coming straight from our Mom's garden!!!!

( Because of having this smoothie for breakfast we were not able to capture a picture of this awesomely green concoction......sorry:-)

So my dear readers, are any of you the adventuresome type? Do you like to add those extra greens to your morning smoothies???If so, please do share we always love to try new things!

Saturday Morning Donuts!

Back at Thanksgiving our Mom took us out for the "Black Friday Sales", one of our stops was at Bed, Bath and Beyond! Upon browsing the cooking/baking section we came across these donut pans. Our little siblings LOVE donuts but we don't buy or make them that often because it involves that dreaded process of FRYING;-) When we saw these pans for baked donuts we could not resist, we just HAD to buy them. Upon buying new kitchen tools you sometimes forget that you bought them, well that's what happened to us, we made donuts the day we got the pans but had not made any since!!! Last Friday evening Hannah announced that she was going to make donuts for our Saturday morning breakfast. This time around upon making them we used a different recipe. If you like pumpkin and you have a donut pan that you always forget to use, and might have forgot that you bought it like we did , try this recipe out;-)

Baked Pumpkin Donuts

Yield: 12 donuts

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoon milk
• ¼ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• cinnamon sugar for dusting
• melted butter for dunking in before coating in cinnamon sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray two 6-count donut pans with non-stick cooking spray (or alternatively spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray). Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, nutmeg and cinnamon in a small bowl. In a stand mixer or medium sized bowl and hand mixer cream together the brown sugar, pumpkin, eggs, milk, butter and vanilla extract on medium speed until the butter is well incorporated.

2. With your mixer on medium low speed, slowly add the dry sifted ingredients to the wet mixture. Mix until just barely combined. Do not over-mix.

3. Scoop pumpkin batter into a large Ziploc bag, pushing batter down towards one end of the bag. Snip the end of the bag with scissors and fill each donut mold with the batter. Be sure to wipe any excess batter that may have gotten around the edge of the mold or on the center "hole".

4. Bake for 6 – 8 minutes or until the exterior springs back when touched. Remove from pan and dunk in melted butter then in your cinnamon sugar!

What could be more special then this for breakfast???

Last week Kathryn lost a tooth, so for a special surprise we made her a very special breakfast. Crepes, Strawberry Nutella stuffed crepes to be exact! A little sweet for breakfast but would could be more fitting for such a sweet little sister!?!? Upon arriving at the table she had a rather sleepy look upon her face but after describing what we were making her they quickly opened and she eagerly waited for her breakfast. I think she liked them very much because she requested them for her birthday breakfast tomorrow! This was my first time making them, it was fun after the first few odd shaped ones......they tasted great but looked a little lopsided:-) By the time I had finished using the batter I had finally gotten the hang of it and they actually were round shaped! Since making them once I think tomorrow should be much easier when making them for her birthday breakfast. The only thing that is missing is fresh whipped cream, I think it could use some to cut back the sweetness a bit. But that's just my preference!

Sweet Breakfast or Dessert Crepes

Ingredients:

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/3 cups milk

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

In large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, melted butter, flour, sugar, and salt until smooth. Heat a medium-sized skillet or crepe pan over medium heat. Grease pan with a small amount of butter or oil. Using a serving spoon or small ladle, spoon about 4 tablespoons crepe batter into hot pan, tilting the pan so that bottom surface is evenly coated. Cook over medium heat, 1 to 2 minutes on a side, or until golden brown. Serve immediately; store leftovers in air-tight container. Makes about eight Crêpes.

Sliced strawberries and Nutella for stuffing!

The perfect afternoon snack!

So what do you make yourself after you get back from your sweaty afternoon workout? A smoothie of course!!! What could be more refreshing?!?! This smoothie recipe I came up with about a week ago has all the right ingredients to make sure you are fueling your muscles after winding down from your workout. After trying this recipe you will not want to go back to your original smoothie because this one is so much more creamy then any other you could imagine, the secret ingredient.......cottage cheese, that's right you read me right, cottage cheese! For me cottage cheese is something that is not on my favorite "foods" list but I was needing to eat it because of the extra protein content, after eating it plain a few times I had this brilliant idea, why not put it in a smoothie just like you would yogurt? There both dairy products right, so why not? After pouring it into my cup I a little hesitantly gave it a try, to my surprise it was so creamy, it almost tasted like a frosty and no I'm not joking! Just make sure to blend it well so you don't get those cottage type chunks:-) Enjoy!



Blackberry Peach Smoothie
Serves:1

1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese
1/2-3/4 cup frozen blackberries
1/2 frozen peach
1/2-3/4 cup water
Put all ingredients into blender and blend on high till very smooth, about 1 minute.

Pumpkin French Toast with a Maple-Fig Syrup

Pumpkin French Toast with All-spice butter and Fig-Maple Syrup

1 heaping cup pumpkin puree

6 eggs

2 egg yolks

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. cloves

1tsp. vanilla

2 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 tsp. salt

8 (1-inch-thick) slices day-old brioche or challah

4 T. unsalted butter,cut into 4 pieces

1/4 cup canola oil

All-spice butter (recipe follows)

Fig-Maple Syrup ( recipe follows)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Whisk together the pumpkin, whole eggs, egg yolks, sugar, cinnamon,nutmeg, cloves, vanilla, milk,cream, and salt in a large baking dish. Place bread in the baking dish, and turn the bread to coat evenly; let sit for 5 min.

3. Heat 2 Tablespoons of the butter and 2 Tablespoons of the canola oil in a large nonstick saute pan over medium-high heat until the butter completely melted. Place 4 slices of the bread on the bottom, 2-3 minutes. Turn the slices over and cook until the bottom is golden brown, 2-3 minutes more. Transfer to a baking sheet. Wipe the pan out with paper towels and repeat with the remaining 2 Tablespoons butter,2 Tablespoons oil, and 4 slices of bread.

4. Transfer the baking sheet to the oven and bake for 5 min.

5. Serve 2 slices per serving topped with the allspice butter and some of the fig-maple syrup.

Allspice Butter

Makes about 1/2 cup

8 T. unsalted butter, at room temp

2 tsp. ground allspice

2 T. pure maple syrup

1/4 tsp. salt

In a small bowl, combine the butter, allspice, maple syrup and salt. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30min. and up to 2 days.

Fig-Maple Syrup

Makes about 2 1/2 cups

8 fresh figs, quartered

1 1/4 cups pure maple syrup

Combine figs and syrup in a small sauce pan and simmer over low heat until the figs are soft, about 10 min. This can be made up to 4 hrs. in advance and refrigerated. Reheat before serving.

Cinnamon Rolls for Resurrection Day breakfast

Yesterday for breakfast I made cinnamon rolls for the first time, it has been a thing in our house for a while that I was not aloud to make them because they might just be better then Hannah's........since Hannah is out of town helping some friends I jumped at the chance to give making them a try. I used and Alton Brown recipe from Food Network with a few moderation's, they turned out gooey and full of cinnamony goodness. The dough was very yellow because of all the eggs and tasted very rich but not to sweet as it only had a 1/4 cup of sugar in the dough. I also made a cream cheese frosting instead of a sugar glaze that Hannah normally makes, I liked that superbly better. So if you have never made cinnamon rolls give them a try they are lots of fun and quite easy to make!
Esther

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

Adapted from Alton Browns Recipe

Ingredients

Dough:

• 4 large egg yolks, room temperature
• 1 large whole egg, room temperature
• 2 ounces sugar, approximately 1/4 cup
• 3 ounces unsalted butter, melted, approximately 6 tablespoons
• 6 ounces buttermilk, room temperature
• 20 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 cups, plus additional for dusting
• 1 package instant dry yeast, approximately 2 1/4 teaspoons
• 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
• 4 T. butter, melted for bottom of pan
• 1/4 cup cinnamon sugar for bottom of pan

Filling:

• 8 ounces light brown sugar, approximately 1 cup packed
• 2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch salt
• 31/2 tablespoons butter, melted

Icing:

• 4 oz. cream cheese,softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 3/4cups powdered sugar

Directions

For the dough: in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg yolks, whole egg, sugar, butter, and buttermilk. Add approximately 2 cups of the flour along with the yeast and salt; whisk until moistened and combined. Remove the whisk attachment and replace with a dough hook. Add all but 3/4 cup of the remaining flour and knead on low speed for 5 minutes. Check the consistency of the dough, add more flour if necessary; the dough should feel soft and moist but not sticky. Knead on low speed 5 minutes more or until the dough clears the sides of the bowl. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface; knead by hand about 30 seconds. Lightly oil a large bowl. Transfer the dough to the bowl, lightly oil the top of the dough, cover and let double in volume, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. Mix until well incorporated. Set aside until ready to use.

Pour melted butter into a 9 by 13-inch glass baking dish and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Gently shape the dough into a rectangle with the long side nearest you. Roll into an 18 by 12-inch rectangle. Brush the dough with the 3/4-ounce of melted butter, leaving 1/2-inch border along the top edge. Sprinkle the filling mixture over the dough, leaving a 3/4-inch border along the top edge; gently press the filling into the dough. Beginning with the long edge nearest you, roll the dough into a tight cylinder. Firmly pinch the seam to seal and roll the cylinder seam side down. Very gently squeeze the cylinder to create even thickness. Using a serrated knife, slice the cylinder into 1 1/2-inch rolls; yielding 12 rolls. Arrange rolls cut side down in the baking dish; cover tightly with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator overnight or up to 16 hours.

Remove the rolls from the refrigerator and place in an oven that is turned off. Fill a shallow pan 2/3-full of boiling water and set on the rack below the rolls. Close the oven door and let the rolls rise until they look slightly puffy; approximately 30 minutes. Remove the rolls and the shallow pan of water from the oven.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

When the oven is ready, place the rolls on the middle rack and bake until golden brown, or until the internal temperature reaches 190 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, approximately 30 minutes.

While the rolls are cooling slightly, make the icing by whisking the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer until creamy. Sift in the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth. Spread over the rolls and serve immediately.

HANNAH'S RECIPE:)

2pkg. Yeast
1c. warm water 105-115
2/3 c. sugar and 1t. of sugar
1c. warm milk
2/3 c. melted butter
2t. salt
2eggs lightly beaten
7c. flour

Filling:
1c. melted butter

1 3/4 c. sugar

3 T. cinnamon

1 1/2 cups walnuts chopped

Creamy Glaze

2/3 cup melted butter

4 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

6 T. hot water

Place warm water, yeast and 1t. sugar in a bowl. Let sit so it will get foamy.
In a mixer, mix milk, 2/3 c. sugar, melted butter, salt. And eggs; stir well. Add yeast mixture. Then add ½ of the flour and mix till smooth. Stir in enough flour to create smooth but slightly sticky dough. Knead. Put dough onto a lightly floured counter and roll dough into a large rectangle. Pour ½ c. of melted butter onto dough and sprinkle with 1 ½ c. cinnamon sugar sprinkle with nuts. Roll jelly roll style, cut in to 15 pieces.
In 2 13x9in. pans, pour remaining ½ c. butter, sprinkle with ¼ c. sugar. Place rolls in pan. Let rise 45min. Bake for 25min. more or less. Until golden brown. Cool slightly, spread with glaze.

This is the best cinnamon roll recipe we have found, we have tried others but this one is our favorite! Enjoy

Chef Hannah

Bobby Flay's Ricotta Pancakes with Lemon Curd and Fresh Raspberries

This is what we had this morning for breakfast, what did you have?

Click Here to find the recipe!

Fresh Mango Bread

Yesterday upon find that we had several mango's needing to be used up I made this yummy bread from Dorie's cook book called"Baking from my home to yours". I was a little worried because the batter was very dry and there was also a lot of it. It baked up nicely and I gave some to my violin teacher who said it smelled very good, I'll have to ask her how she liked it next lesson:) It was very sweet but good, I loved the idea a ginger, it is also supposed to have golden raisins and lime zest which I did not have so just skipped out. Next time I would add some chopped macadamia nuts to the top but other then that it was very good!

Esther

Fresh Mango Bread

by Dorie Greenspan

Cooks Note: As good as this bread is freshly baked, I think it's even better the next day. One day spent wrapped in plastic seems to intensify the fruit and spice flavors. Of course, if you can't wait, don't. Just cut the loaf into thick slices and serve with tea, hot or iced or coffee!

Serves:12

3 eggs

3/4 cup canola oil

2 1/2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 cups diced mango( from 1 large peeled and pitted mango

Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 81/2 x41/2 inch loaf pan. Whisk together sugar and eggs. Next whisk in all other ingredients except mango. The batter will be very stiff, fold in mango. Spoon into loaf pan and bake for 1 15min-1 1/2 hrs. or until golden brown and knife comes out clean.( If bread looks as if its getting to brown when its baking tent with foil) Cool 5 min. in pan. Remove and let cool before baking

Family Favorite Oatmeal

Family Favorite Baked Oatmeal
Serves 8



5 apples peeled and thinly slices

1/4c. oil
1/4c. applesauce
2 1/2c. milk
1T. vanilla
1/3c. honey
1T. cinnamon
3c. oats
2t. baking powder
1t. salt

1/2c. chopped walnuts


Preheat your oven to 350. Place you apple slices into a greased 9x9in. baking dish.
In a large bowl, mix together the oil, applesauce milk, vanilla, and honey. Next add the remaining dry ingredients, and mix well.
Pour your oat batter onto the apples in the baking dish, sprikle with the walnuts. Place in the oven, and bake for approx. 30-45 min. depending on how crunchy you like the top!Serve as is, or with maple syrup!





Note: If you like to have yours with milk, reduce the milk in the recipe by 1/2c.

Dad's Favorite

This oatmeal is one we make for our Dad about once a week. Can you guess what's in it?

Zucchini Apple Muffins

These muffins are a great snack, and the only sweetener they have is molasses!

Zucchini Apple Muffins

Recipe:
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/3 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs
2/3 cup unsulphured molasses
1 apple, peeled and finely diced
1 small zucchini, grated
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup oil

Line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners, and preheat the oven to 350 F.

Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in a large bowl and mix with a wire whisk.

Stir the eggs, molasses, apple, zucchini, walnuts, and oil together in a medium bowl, then pour into the flour mixture.
Stir gently with a wooden spoon until mixed, then divide among muffin tins and bake for about 17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack

Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal

Yesterday for breakfast we made this yummy recipe. It tastes just like pumpkin pie, but a whole lot healthier!

Cherry Pineapple Mango Smoothie

1c. Sweet Cherries frozen
1c. Mango frozen
1 1/2 Banana frozen
1/4c. coconut milk frozen
1/2c. water
1/4c. Pineapple Coconut juice

Blend till smooth and enjoy! Serves 2 very large glasses.

Recipes for Yogurt and Cereal

Here are the recipes to make the Raw Cereal, we found this on one of our favorite sites Just Making Noise!

Soaked & Ready' Oats

• 4 cups rolled oats (NOT instant)
• 4 cups filtered water
• 8 Tbsp. whey, lemon/lime juice, kefir or yohgurt

Warm the 4 cups of water in a saucepan (you don't need a microwave) till warm to touch. Do not let it boil!

Pour the oats, warm water and acid medium (whey, etc..) into a large glass bowl and mix thoroughly. Cover the bowl with a towel or plate & let it sit overnight in your oven or on your counter (wherever you have space).

Important: Let it sit for 8 - 24 hours... 12 hours is okay, but I always soak mine for 24 hours to reduce the phytic acid as much as possible.

Spread the oats on parchment paper in your tray or cookie pan (for oven drying) and put in dehydrator set on the highest temp (if you have that option... I don't) until completely dry. It can take anywhere from 6 to 24 hours... depending on your dehydrator. You can dry the oats in your oven set on the lowest temperature.

When the oats are dried, you will be able to break them into chunks. Put the chunks in your food processor or blender and pulse until coarsely ground (kinda like oatmeal flakes). Don't grind it fine unless you want oat flour.

Pour the oats in a sealed container and store in your fridge or in a cool, dark place. Ta-daaa! There you go... you have 'Soaked & Ready' Oats for satisfying your urge to make cookies! Remember, you can make this however much you want. When I first made these, I used 8 cups of rolled oats. Just make sure you add everything up correctly.

Quick, Raw & Nourishing Homemade Cereal

• 'Soaked & Ready' Oats
• Dehydrated almonds (you can use regular)
• Coconut flakes
• Cinnamon
• Freshly ground flaxseed
• Raw honey
• Your choice of milk

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Drizzle raw honey over the mixture and stir some more. Pour your choice of milk (warm or cold) over the cereal and ENJOY!

Be creative or make your favorite!

Yogurt Recipe from the Wissmanns

Add two gallons of milk to a large stockpot. You may use whole, 2% or skimmed milk. Heat the milk slowly over a medium heat (not so hot that it burns on the bottom). It may need stirred a couple times depending on the quality of the stockpot. Heat milk until the temperature is 180*F. It is not necessary to boil the milk.

Note: Use a sturdy, heavy stockpot to heat the milk. It will avoid scorching the milk. We are so thankful for the high-quality stainless steel cookware Daddy got for our kitchen many years ago! Thank you Daddy!

A double-boiler can also be used to heat the milk, if a stockpot is thin.

When the milk reaches 180*F, turn the heat off and let the milk cool to 110*F. Putting the stockpot into a sink of cold water will quicken this step. Otherwise, this is a good opportunity to move on to other projects for a bit!

When milk has cooled to 110*F, add 1 six ounce cup of Yoplaityogurt. Any flavor can be used, because it doesn't flavor the entire two gallons very much

With a wire whisk, beat the milk & yogurt starter for a minute. It is important for the starter to get completely dissolved into the milk. The milk mixed with yogurt starter is now called inoculated milk

Once thoroughly mixed, pour the inoculated milk into the desired jars. Fill to the neck of the jar. We use gallon jars - however, for the smaller family - half gallon or quart jars are much easier to manage and work just as well!

Put lids on tightly and place jars into a cooler. It is helpful if the jars fit snugly into the cooler - it all stays warmer and turns to yogurt faster. Warm water [110*f] can also be added to help stabilize the temperature.

Place the lid on cooler and set in a warm place for 3-4 hours. The yogurt is done when it has jelled. This can be easily checked by gently tipping the jar to see if it is milky or firm. If the milk has not become firm in 4 hours, the cooler may not be quite warm enough and it will just need a few more hours. When it is jelled, place in the fridge overnight to completely cool down and set.

Kamut Sweet Biscuits

Last week in Texas we had a lot of rain! Soup was definitely on the menu, but you can't have soup with out biscuits or some type of bread. Being that I had not made any bread this past week I decided biscuits would be a quick fix. Lately we have been using other grains instead of wheat, you can by Kamut in the bulk section of your grocery store, usely.... if not just use Wheat or even Spelt flour.

Everyone in our family loves these. Be sure to drizzle a little more honey on top, it just isn't quite sweet enough without it ;-)

Kamut Sweet Biscuits

Yields: 9-12 small biscuits

2 1/2 cups Kumut flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum( optional)

1/4 cup coconut oil, or butter very cold

1/2 cup almond milk or cows milk

1/4 cup honey

Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients. With a pastry blender or your hands work in coconut oil. Mix in honey and milk to make a soft dough. Knead gently 6 times. Pat out into a 1/2-3/4 inch thickness. Cut dough with a 2 inch biscuit cutter. Place on a baking sheet that has been greased with coconut oil. Bake for 10-15 minutes till golden brown on bottom. Serve warm with extra butter and honey.

Coconut Chocolate Smoothie

Someone brought to our attention that this did not contain any almonds so it could not be an almond joy smoothie! Woops! A mistake on our part, though you could use almond milk which would make it one.....

Blend, coconut milk, bananas, coconut chunks ( real fresh coconut) and enough water to keep a good consistatncy. Top with a little bit of raw chocolate!

Spelt Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry Muffins

1 1/2 c. milk

1/2 c. butter, melted

1/2 c. applesauce

2/3c. honey

2 eggs

4 lemons peel grated

2t. vanilla

4c. spelt or whole wheat flour

2T. baking powder

2t. salt

1 1/2 c. fresh or frozen blueberries

Mix the wet ingredients in a large bowl. Add the dry ingredients, then fold in blueberries, reserve 1/2 cup for top. Put into greased muffin tins, sprinkle with remaining blueberries and bake at 375 for 17min.

Yield: 2 dozen muffins

Oatmeal Pudding Bake

Ah, we are back in thte warmer state! We miss our dear friends that we stayed half our time with ( Kathryn and Tara in the picture below the oatmeal) We have tons of fun eating, talking, eating, playing music together, eating, taking picture, eating, taking pictures..........well I guess you figured out that we did lots of eating and taking pictures while we were up there!

Here is the list of new foods we tried while we were up there

Since our friends are Chinese and Dutch, they had a cultural foods for us to try, we throughly enjoyed each one!

The Asian Foods we tried!

Mooshu ( Chinese beef and cabbage you put in a tortilla like wrapper served with plum sauce)
Crispy Duck
Beef Ho Fun (the wide noodles w/ beef)
Chicken w/ black bean sauce
Hot & Sour soup
Egg drop soup
Seafood soup

We also had never tried;

Beets

Jicama

Thieves oil :-)

The Dutch foods we tried

Droppjes (pronounced Dropees – the cat licorice)

Speculaas (spay-cu-lahs - spice cookies)
Hagelslag (ha-hal-slach – throat clearing sound at the end – chocolate sprinkles :-)

Here we are outside in the freezing cold! Smile every one!

Oatmeal Pudding Bake

2 cups rolled oats
2 cups cottage cheese
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon of cinnamon and nutmeg

Mix together all the ingredients, pour into a greased 9x9in. pan. Bake at 350 for 40min.

Blueberry Oat Pancakes

3 1/2 c. milk

1/4c. melted butter

2 eggs

1/4c. applesauce

2 T. honey

2c. wheat flour

2c. rolled oats

1T. baking powder

1t. baking soda

1t. salt

3 lemons zested

1c. blueberries

Mix together all the ingredients except the blueberries.

Pour batter by 1/4c. onto a hot griddle. Sprinkle with about 5 blueberries. Cook the first side for about 2 min. then flip and give the other side about 2 min. as well.

Serve warm with butter and maple syrup!

Makes 1 1/2-2 dozen pancakes